Qualcomm Debuts Pro Version of Snapdragon S4 Processor: MWC

The S4 Pro version of MSM8960 is optimized for advanced operating systems, including the Microsoft Windows 8 system.

BARCELONA,
SpainMobile technology specialist Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) announced that it
will offer a Pro version of the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor to enable even
more capable mobile computing devices. The S4 Pro processor features the Adreno
320 GPU, support for higher resolution displays, and hardware and software
compatibility with the S4 class.
The
Adreno 320 is a high-performance programmable GPU designed to provide an
enhanced user experience for Web browsing, games, user interfaces and other graphics
applications. The Adreno 320 also infuses the S4 Pro version with new
multimedia capabilities, including a computational camerathe ability to tap
directly into the computational capability of the Adreno 320 GPU through new
APIs like OpenCL, to enable next-generation use cases such as light-field
cameras for mobile devices.

The
company said in support of next-generation 3D graphics APIs, Adreno 320 will
enable more realistic 3D graphic effects through hardware acceleration of
advanced rendering features like instancing, occlusion queries and multiple
render targets. Adreno 320 also includes dedicated hardware to accelerate
Windows and fully supports the top game engines in the industry from Unity,
Epic and others.

"As
a result of strong customer demand for Snapdragon S4 processors, we've added a
new Pro version of MSM8960 to continue delivering the highest performing mobile
processors in the industry," said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of
product management at Qualcomm. "By delivering the S4 Pro processor in
2012, we are fulfilling our promise that Snapdragon processors will remain the
industry's barometer for excellence in mobile computing while helping our
customers bring the most innovative smartphones and tablets to market."
The
S4 Pro version of MSM8960 is optimized for advanced operating systems,
including the Microsoft Windows 8 system, and is expected to come to market in
the second half of 2012. Currently, there are more than 340 Snapdragon-based
devices commercially available and more than 400 in development, according to a
company release.
"Snapdragon
S4 and S4 Pro are designed to enable tablets and notebook devices to deliver
the high performance, flexibility, global 3G/4G connectivity and energy
efficiency consumers are increasingly demanding," said Luis Pineda, senior
vice president of computing and consumer products at Qualcomm. "We are
excited about the Snapdragon S4 Pro processors' potential for consumers, and
about the upcoming Windows 8 platform."

The
company also announced that its next-generation Gobi modem chipsetsthe
MDM8225, MDM9225 and MDM9625will begin sampling in the fourth quarter of 2012
and will be the first to support both HSPA+ Release 10 and the next generation
of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile broadband standard, LTE Advanced. The
MDM9225 and MDM9625 chipsets are Qualcomm's third generation of LTE modem
chipsets. In addition to supporting both LTE Advanced (LTE Release 10) and
HSPA+ Release 10 (including 84M-bps dual-carrier HSDPA), they are backward-compatible
with other standards, including EV-DO Advanced, TD-SCDMA and GSM.
"Our
newest generation of Gobi modem chipsets will allow mobile device OEMs to
design products that can operate on nearly any mobile broadband network
worldwide," said Cristiano Amon, senior vice president of product
management at Qualcomm. "In addition to supporting the latest mobile
broadband technologies, these chipsets improve over Qualcomm's previous
seven-mode 28nm LTE chipsets (MDM9x15) by offering a reduction in power consumption
and overall board area, enabling OEMs to design smaller, sleeker devices with
longer battery life."

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.